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Artist mixtape: Songs that inspired Angie’s new LP Shyness

Thursday, 11 May 2017

Sydney musician, artist and indie icon Angie (Circle Pit, Straight Arrows, Ruined Fortune) will be performing at the Ainslie Arts Centre as part of her national tour to release her new solo LP Shyness. Angie is an ever-evolving musician, and has been a trailblazer of the Sydney underground music scene for over a decade. She will be launching Shyness with an intimate all-ages performance at Ainslie Arts Centre on Friday 27 May, with supports including TVCR (Robin Mukerjee of TV Colours), Thunderbolt (previously Thunderbolt City), and Spike Vincent (SYD).

Shyness is Angie’s third solo album and marks a swift departure from the noisy pop power that colours her back catalogue. Here she shares some of the songs that influenced the album.

Arthur Russell – Eli

I love Arthur Russell, especially the album Love is Overtaking Me. He has a unique way of channeling a sense of great fragility and sensitivity, whilst also portraying a great strength. In light of ‘Shyness‘ I suppose that’s what I was trying to do, and I guess I got a great sense of solace from Arthur’s work in times when I felt perhaps I was giving too much away.

Fad Gadget – Love Parasite

I find that often when I’m immersed in a recording project I become enamoured with differing styles to what I’m working on. Hence why Fad Gadget is on this list. This music gives me a great sense of energy, and I always listen to this album when I’m on trains. For some reasons it makes the dreariness of commuting more exciting in some way, almost tricking my mind into thinking I’m travelling to some wonderful party or exotic location. It’s pure escapism this music, and always enlightening.

Neil Michael Hagerty – I Found a Stranger

Hagerty is a constant inspiration and his solo records would definitely hold a place in this list. The GTR work on Shyness is meant to be minimal, but expressive, and the style of these solo records definitely encapsulate this. Neil sometimes solos in this kind of brutal style, but sometimes his solo playing is kinda featherlight – it sits alongside everything else in the composition – and this kind of style and dynamic is integral to Shyness. I’m surprised that Neil isn’t more famous. To me he is a living legend, a true unique genius.

Psychic TV – No no go

Psychic TV’s LP Force the Hand of Chance I listen to a lot. There is so much in this little album. So many ideas, thoughts and utterances, it’s quite remarkable when you sit and listen to the whole recording from start to end. But one overarching aspect of this album that to me sets it aside, is that despite all of this there is a certain sparseness to every song. There is so much space between, through and around. I was definitely trying to initiate this sense of sparseness, but it’s not something you can really try to get, it’s something inherent.

Blue Oyster Cult – Burning for You

I’m really partial to 70’s rock – it might be my favourite genre. Burning for you is a great jam and BOC’s solos are unbeatable, especially when there’s more than one going on at once. They’re a band that have great structures, sometimes simple, sometimes complex, but always musically enlightening and surprising.

Brain Eno – The Big Ship

As Shyness is instrumental heavy, I took a lot of influence from those working in realms of popular rock / song, but whom also make instrumentals. This would be the case with Brian Eno. The Big Ship sits amongst a great selection of rock tracks that make up the album Another Green World. I was curious to know how these songs would sit amongst “songs” and how they relate to material that is dictated by words and verse.

Nils Frahm – Song

Nils Frahm and Keith Jarrett would both be piano artists that I enjoy and there are a lot of contemporary musicians working with piano. I chose this because the piano is on its own, it’s all there is, and I like that.

Royal Trux – Cut You Loose

This is probably a lesser-known Royal Trux song, coming from their triple LP ‘Singles, Live + Unreleased’. I chose it because, like Nils Frahm, the only instrumentation is piano. Its bare, and loose, and the piano carries the whole song.

Angie will be launching her third solo LP Shyness at Ainslie Arts Centre, Saturday May 27

Track 1: 'Eli' from Arthur Russell's Love is Overtaking Me

Track 2. 'Love Parasite' from Fad Gadget's Under The Flag

Track 3. 'I Found a Stranger' from Neil Michael Hagerty's self titled album

Track 4. 'No Go Go' from Psychic TV's Force the Hand of Chance

Track 5. Burnin' for You from Blue Oyster Cult's Fire of Unknown Origin